How far do you blame Curley’s wife for what happens?

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How far do you blame Curley’s

wife for what happens?

        

There are lots of different pro’s and cons for this statement. Therefore I have started to take each character, Lennie and Curley’s wife separately and then create a conclusion from the evidence.

Curley’s wife seems to be a weak character in the novel, but however this is just the way she seems, and not the way she really is. This is because there is also a powerful side to her. It’s similar to a split personality. The main ways in which Curley’s wife is portrayed to be weak is that Steinbeck purposely gives her no name, therefore she has no status. Also, Curley’s wife is portrayed as a powerful person. This is shown when men are frightened are frightened of her. This is due to all of the workers on the ranch seeing her as `jailbait`. Also Curley’s wife likes to impose herself upon people, for example Lennie and Crooks. This is because she sees them as weak, and from that she can hopefully get friendship and comfort, which is what she really wants. However, because of this she can also be seen as a troublemaker or flirtatious, which makes the men on the ranch, avoid her. The first side that Curley’s wife shows, which to relates to “what happens”, is where she shows her sneakiness. This is shown below:

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“Curley’s wife came around the end of the last stall. She came very quietly, so that Lennie didn’t see her.”

(Pg 84-85, lines 33-1)

After Curley’s wife had sneaked up on Lennie, she persisted in talking to Lennie even after he said not to, and she repeatedly did so until he gave in. The reason that I think that Curley’s wife did this was that she saw Lennie as an easy target, due to his child-like mental state. Also, the reason for Curley’s wife wanting so desperately wanting to talk to someone, was that she was lonely ...

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